10 Great Movie Ideas

These 10 great movie ideas don’t always result in great movies, but there’s no disputing the brilliance of the conceits. In an artistic tradition that prides itself on sticking to the tried and true, these films stepped outsid the box in an attempt to blow our effing minds.

“Rashomon” – The premise of Kurosawa’s classic “Rashomon” is one of ten great movie ideas. The film tackles judgment, law, power, morality, subjectivity and bias by examining a murder from four different perspectives during the course of a criminal trial.

“Metropolis” – Any film dealing with deceit, power, conspiracy, duplicity and the ethical ramifications of technological advancement owe their bread and butter to “Metropolis.” The epic German film tells the tale of a scientist who clones the kind-hearted leader of a group of disenfranchised workers. The clone encourages the workers to reap a bloody vengeance upon their oppressors. It’s one of ten great movie ideas.

“Citizen Kane” – We don’t blame you if you don’t like this movie. Hell, we don’t really like it that much, either. But its premise is one of ten great movie ideas. It’s simple and incredibly effective: place a question in the head of the audience and tell a chronologically disjointed film that offers countless clues as to the answer to this question without revealing it until the very end.

“Star Wars” – There are enough brilliant ideas in “Star Wars” to fill a list of ten great movie ideas. First, there’s the basic idea behind the films: make a Kurosawa samurai epic set in space and filled with aliens. Second, there’s the intentional mythology: it’s reported that Lucas plotted the progression of the films by studying the archetypal pattern of ancient hero myths.

“Eurasian News Anchor Desires Nakadashi Rape” – This thirty-minute porn deserves a place on this list. The idea is this: Japanese porn star Maria Ozawa does a full newscast while naked men enter the news studio to copulate with and ejaculate on her. Ozawa’s clothes ar taken off, her hair mussed (with naughty sauce), her make up run, her stockings torn, yet she continues to do the news cast until the very end. It’s like Monty Python with penetration.

“Die Hard” – “Die Hard” revolutionized the action genre with a simple, brilliant premise (the idea) and flawless execution (the action). The idea: a group of terrorist takes over and locks down a building, unaware that a cop is in there with them. The action: Bruce Willis fucking up a bunch of hired thugs and going toe-to-toe with Alan Rickman. It’s a great movie idea.

“The Matrix” – Any list of ten great movie ideas would be anemic without “The Matrix.” It’s like “Alice in Wonderland” meets “Terminator” in the depths of surreal hell governed by the explosive tenants of John Woo, anime and ancient philosophy. How can that be bad?

“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” – “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” is slated for release in 2012, directed by Kazakh madman Timur Bekmambetov. The plot is one of ten great movie ideas: Abraham Lincoln starts the Civil War to exact revenge on slave-trading vampires who killed his mother.

“UP” – “UP” is neither the best Pixar film nor the best animated movie. However, it is one of ten great movie ideas, and certainly the most conceptually brilliant animation in recent memory. The conceit is simple: a man uses thousands of balloons to lift his house and fly to South America.

“Showgirls” – A young woman makes her way to Las Vegas to become a dancer and ends up embroiled in a battle with factions of nefarious strippers in an effort to claw her way to the top of titty bar pantheon. Huh? Well, there’s tits, sex, swimming pools, murder, intrigue and the exploitative direction on Paul Verhoeven. We’re in.